By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Photo Credit: WorldAthletics.
South Africa set a new African Record of 37.49s to win Silver behind the USA (37.43) in the men’s 4x100m at the World Relays in Botswana on Sunday, 03 May 2026.
Having come into this event missing several of their previous medallists, Mvuyo Moss and Cheswill Johnson stepped up in impressive fashion, joining Bradley Nkoana and Akani Simbine.
“I’m proud of [these guys] showing up,” said Simbine, who ran his trademark anchor leg, powering past several teams on his way to the finish.
“I knew they were going to be able to do it… These guys are there. They’re doing what they need to do. Cheswill is running well, Moss is running crazy well, so why not… I expected an African record coming out of this competition and we got that.”
“Yes, we wanted to get the gold medal and defend the title but we came out here, we ran well, we had an amazing time out there, we got a medal with a diamond, we can’t ask for anything more.”
As predicted, the 4x400m final produced a massive battle between the home team, who took gold at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, and defending World Relays champions South Africa, represented by Mthi Mthimkulu, Lythe Pillay, Leendert Koekemoer and Zakithi Nene.
The showdown certainly delivered with world champion Collen Kebinatshipi outgunning Nene in the final few metres to take the gold.
Lythe Pillay was particularly outstanding, running a split of 42.66 seconds – the fastest in the entire field – in the second leg for the South Africans, who took close to three seconds off their previous national record to secure the silver in 2:55.07.
Australia claimed the bronze in an area record of 2:55.20 with the Zimbabwe team of Dennis Bradley Hove, Zuze Leeford, Gerren Muwishi and Thandazani Ndhlovu finishing fifth in 2:59.79.
Meanwhile, the teams that didn’t make it through to Sunday’s finals were given a second shot at qualifying for next year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing, needing to secure top-two places in their respective repechages to do so.
South Africa and Nigeria both secured their places in the 4x400m mixed relay. Nigeria booked their ticket in the women’s 4x100m, Senegal in the men’s 4x400m and Ghana in the men’s 4x100m.
African teams that have booked their places at the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing:
4x100m men: Botswana, South Africa, Ghana
4x400m men: Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Senegal
4x100m women: Nigeria
4x100m mixed: Nigeria
4x400m mixed: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa.
Elsewhere Jamaica made it two world records in the space of 24 hours in the mixed 4x100m relays after storming to victory in 39.62 seconds ahead of defending champions Canada (40.23) and the USA (40.33).